Rain sends OBC off track; tourney concludes today

Mitch Lucas, Kilgore News Herald, Texas
·2 min read

Mar. 6—It's been a few years since rain affected the Whataburger Oil Belt Classic, Kilgore High School's annual non-district baseball tournament, in this schedule-altering fashion, but Friday wound up being almost a complete wash for the event, thanks to the wet weather.

The tournament is set to resume today, with a new schedule, weather and grounds permitting.

And here it is, including Kilgore High School's games at 11:15 and 6 p.m. today.

2021 Whataburger Oil Belt Classic tournament

Saturday, March 6 schedule

9 a.m.: Central Heights vs. New Diana

11:15 p.m.: Kilgore vs. New Diana

1:30 p.m.: Harmony vs. Pine Tree

6 p.m.: Kilgore vs. Palestine

8:15 p.m.: Sabine vs. Pine Tree

All games, of course, are being played here at Driller Park.

Coach Eugene Lafitte's Bulldogs did get one game in on Thursday night before the rain began on Friday: a 6-1 win over Pine Tree.

In the third inning against the Pirates, Donovan Adkins earned a walk. Adkins went to second on a wild pitch, and then to third on an error. He scored on a grounder hit by Cade Pippen, and gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 advantage.

Pine Tree tied it up: Dakylan Johnson walked, then went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by teammate Case Buchanan.

In the fourth, though, Kilgore added some insurance. Adkins and pitcher Dalton McElyea each hit a double in the inning, and Bryce Long singled, as Kilgore rolled up five runs in the inning.

McElyea got the win, pitching 4 1/3 innings. He gave up just one run on just two hits, with seven strikeouts. Chase Lewis came on to pitch, and finished the game when he got Conner Carrell to hit a pop-up to first baseman Heath LaFleur.

Kilgore is 3-2 on the season so far; the three wins are over Bishop Lynch and Huntington (in the Whitehouse tournament that opened the season last weekend) and then Thursday's win over PT. The two losses were to Longview and Whitehouse, both in the Whitehouse tournament.

Also on Thursday in the Oil Belt Classic, Sabine beat Palestine 5-0, but lost to Harmony, 5-4; New Diana beat Palestine, 5-3; Central Heights and Harmony finished in a 2-all tie, and Sabine beat New Diana in the late game, after KHS-PT.

Looking ahead to next week, Kilgore is off until playing in the Rusk / Brook Hill Tournament next Thursday, Friday and Saturday; see that schedule in Wednesday's News Herald.